Memory devices are widely used to store information in various electronic devices such as computers, wireless communication devices, cameras, digital displays, and the like. Information is stored by programming different states of a memory device. For example, binary devices have two states, often denoted by a logic “1” or a logic “0.” In other systems, more than two states may be stored. To access the stored information, the electronic device may read, or sense, the stored information in the memory device. To store information, the electronic device may write, or program, the state in the memory device.
Various types of memory devices exist, including random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), magnetic RAM (MRAM), resistive RAM (RRAM), flash memory, and others. Memory devices may be volatile or non-volatile. Non-volatile memory, e.g., flash memory, can store data for extended periods of time even in the absence of an external power source. Volatile memory devices, e.g., DRAM, may lose their stored state over time unless they are periodically refreshed by an external power source. A binary memory device may, for example, include a charged or discharged capacitor. A charged capacitor may, however, become discharged over time through leakage currents, resulting in the loss of the stored information. Certain features of volatile memory may offer performance advantages, such as faster read or write speeds, while features of non-volatile memory, such as the ability to store data without periodic refreshing, may be advantageous.
Memory devices typically include voltage lines such as plate lines and sense lines that facilitate access to the cells of the memory device. A plate line generally provides a voltage to a storage component associated with a memory cell for example, a capacitor. The voltage on the plate line may be more or less constant during a memory access operation. A sense line is also coupled to the storage component and is generally configured to store a voltage that represents a logical value that is being read from or written to a memory cell. In contrast to the plate line, the voltage on the sense line generally varies during a memory access operation according to the data stored by the accessed memory cells.
A conventional memory array may produce electrical interference between the lines due to the changing voltages present in the sense lines. The interference may be referred to herein as “fringing” and may result in signal distortion and subsequent data errors. There is a need in the art to avoid this fringing effect and the related signal distortion and data errors.